


Deicide

by TwilightKnight17



Series: How to Kill a God [1]
Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Gen, Major P5R Spoilers, Palace Deadline Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-01
Updated: 2020-07-01
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:22:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25007653
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwilightKnight17/pseuds/TwilightKnight17
Summary: Left alone in a world that isn't his, Goro devotes himself to a goal.
Series: How to Kill a God [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1967740
Comments: 22
Kudos: 161





	Deicide

Three months of playing nice was what it took to gain access to Leblanc’s attic, and Goro was fairly certain he was approaching the borders of a mental breakdown by the time he succeeded. Sakura-san was a surprisingly capable gate-guardian, finding every excuse in the book to keep Goro – or anyone else – from venturing upstairs. But at last, one warm evening during the first week of May, he’d needed to run to the store because he had run out of a critical curry ingredient and left Goro behind with a raised hand and a, “Take care of the shop for a bit, since Akira’s out today.”

“Of course,” Goro said with his brightest detective prince smile, and as soon as Sojiro was gone, he practically launched off his stool and headed for the stairs.

The attic was filthy. The shelves where the coffee beans were stored were fine, relatively speaking, but the work desk? Akira’s shelves of trinkets from his friends? They were covered in cobwebs that looked like no one had cleaned since New Years. Which...he could only assume no one had. There had been no time for cleaning before February, and after…

Goro crossed the room, leaving faint footprints in the dust, and looked down at Akira. He was curled loosely on his side under the blankets, his phone abandoned beside his pillow.

“What happened to you?” Goro said, dropping down to lay his hand on Akira’s cheek. “Akira, wake up. Come on.”

Dull grey eyes fluttered open, a sliver of gunmetal visible for just a moment before Akira murmured sleepily and nuzzled further into the pillow.

“Akira…” Goro frowned, resisting the urge to grab him and shake him. Something was wrong, clear as day. He’d thought Akira might be imprisoned somewhere, but this unnatural sleep… it was unnerving. It certainly wasn’t what he’d expected to find in the attic. And it was tempting to reach for Robin or Loki, but even if he could manage to summon, he didn’t have any curative magic. He didn’t know if this was a status ailment, an illness… And he had no real way to find out.

There was a quiet sound from behind him, and he spun on his heel, reaching for the gun tucked into the inside pocket of his coat.

“I should have figured you’d find a way into this place eventually,” Maruki said. He looked like his normal self, casually dressed with loose hair, compared to the calculating Palace ruler they’d confronted. But Goro wasn’t an idiot; he could see that edge lurking just beneath his kindly expression. Maruki smiled benevolently. “You’re too clever, Akechi-kun. You weren’t happy with the way things were?”

“You mean with the _fake Akira_ that you decided to puppeteer around in front of me?” Goro spat. “I got rid of it as soon as I could. Not that anyone seems to have noticed.”

“I noticed, of course,” Maruki said, and there was a hint of exasperation in his voice. “But I didn’t allow it to interfere.”

“Of course not.” Goro forced the words out past the vivid flashback of how ill he’d felt pointing his gun at the back of the fake’s head. At the time, he’d expected it to come back, for Maruki to keep attempting to fold him into his perfect world, but apparently his rejection of that particular 'gift' had been accepted, at least. “Sakura-san comes up here to replenish the coffee beans. I assume he doesn’t notice that his ward is sleeping the days away on the other side of the room.”

Maruki shook his head. “No. It’s just a small adjustment, to make sure that everyone believes they’ve heard from him and they know where he is. Except you. Something about you and Kurusu-kun prevents me from changing you without your consent.”

“For all of your power, you can’t handle a few Wild Cards,” Goro snarked, well-aware that Maruki didn’t understand the significance of the term. But then his voice hardened, cold and unyielding, and he aimed the gun at Maruki and demanded, “What have you done to him?”

Maruki tilted his head. “You know that can’t do anything to me,” he said gently. He took a few steps further into the attic, and Goro followed his movement with the gun. “Kurusu-kun is sleeping, because forcing him to make a decision was only causing him pain. This is better, until he’s ready to rejoin the waking world. It’s for his own good.”

“Causing him… _You_ were causing him pain! You’re just an idiot with a fucking savior complex, insisting that you had the right to remake the whole world…!” Goro snarled. “Don’t you stand there and tell me that this was for his own good. You’re not the one who decides that!”

“I was given this power,” Maruki said, frowning like he was genuinely saddened that Goro was upset. “I was chosen to make the world better. An ideal reality; a peaceful reality. I wish you could see that.”

Goro laughed bitterly. “ _Chosen,_ ” he spat. “Shido believed the same thing, you know. That he had been ‘chosen by god’ to lead this country. You know what happened to him, don’t you? And to the actual god that thought it knew what was best for humanity? You and your delusions of godhood are no more worthy than they were.”

“I’m _nothing_ like Shido.”

A smirk split Goro’s face. There he was. The madman under the gentle facade, bristling at the flagrant insult. “No?”

“No,” Maruki said firmly. “Shido used people, killed people. I’m just trying to make everyone happy. I don’t understand why you can’t accept that.”

“You didn’t give anyone a choice!” Goro said. “You warped their lives, their minds… We saw what your Palace was like, how you change people to fit your ideas of what will make them happy, regardless of their feelings. You know best, after all! It’s disgusting, thinking that that’s what you would have done to me, if I had said yes.” He flicked the safety off, still holding the gun steady. “The only person you offered a choice to was Akira, and it wasn’t a choice at all! It was emotional manipulation, trying to score an easy win!”

Maruki scowled. “It wasn’t manipulation. I just wanted him to be aware of the facts before he made a decision.”

“Facts that you withheld as a trump card for the last moment.” Goro shook his head. “I hate you. God… I _hate_ you. I might hate you more than Shido, right now, and that’s _really_ saying something.”

“I know that you’re upset because you think this world is fake, but—” Maruki began, and Goro couldn’t stand the way he was looking at them.

“No!” Goro waved the gun at him. “That’s not it! Don’t _simplify it_ like that. I hate you for… for putting us in this situation. For putting this choice on us. Because god knows that I don’t deserve to be happy after everything I’ve done. But _he does_.” He gestured at Akira with his other hand. “He deserves his idiotic friends, and this stupid filthy attic, and whatever else he wants. He deserves _everything_ in return for what he’s done for this ungrateful world! And you… You put him in a situation where choosing to save a life and choosing to be happy _were the wrong answer_ , and it tore him apart! And now you have the nerve to stand there and pity us!”

“Akechi-kun…”

Goro narrowed his eyes. “...or maybe it’s not _all_ pity.”

Maruki said nothing in response, and while the pity still lingered in his gaze, most of his expression had gone surprisingly neutral. 

“Oh? Did I hit a nerve?” Goro raised an eyebrow. “See, I’ve noticed something. You can’t alter our cognition without our consent, but you don’t know why. You don’t know everything about how the metaverse works, yet. _However_ , you _were_ able to put him into an enchanted sleep. Yet you didn’t do the same for me.”

“His suffering was because of his inability to make a decision. Your decision is clear,” Maruki said, but the answer wasn’t as certain as it could have been, and Goro metaphorically dug in his claws.

“Still. I’m suffering, being forced to live in this farce of a world, knowing that Akira’s trapped here and the man I hate is ruling everything,” he sniped, and Maruki flinched. “Is this a punishment, for defying a god? Living with the consequences of my choice? Or is it the other way around? Is Akira asleep because you worry that he might still find a way to undo this, and you took the opportunity to take him out of the game in a way that didn’t compromise your so-called morals?”

Maruki just stared at him, and for the first time, Goro actually felt uncomfortable. That wasn’t the stare of a person in their right mind. It was the sort of look worn by someone willing to do _anything_ to achieve their goals. 

He would know, after all.

“I’m sorry you feel that way,” Maruki said, still perfectly polite. “This isn’t a punishment. Not one inflicted by me. You could end this at any time.”

“I’m not going to let you make me into some pretty, smiling doll. I’ve had enough of that,” Goro hissed. “We were told how you were given control of reality. The Phantom Thieves made a grave mistake, unknowingly giving up their rule over Mementos. But if it can be passed from a god, to those fools, to you, it can be passed again.”

“...you’re welcome to try,” Maruki said, “but don’t expect me not to try to stop you in return.” There was a golden glint to his eyes for just a moment, a glimpse of the monster beneath the facade. “I’ll make it fair, of course, but it won’t be easy.”

Goro glared at him. “I don’t expect ‘easy’. You should know by now that I don’t want things handed to me. No matter how long it takes, I’ll steal this world back from you. I don’t care if it takes the rest of my life. I will put an end to you, so that Akira can wake back up in our true reality, without your bullshit hanging over him.”

Maruki smiled, unruffled by the implied threat. “Very well. I acknowledge your challenge. And maybe this is what you needed.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Goro demanded, bracing himself for another trick.

“Only that you have a goal now, and perhaps that’s what you need to be happy in my world,” Maruki said cheerfully.

Goro pulled the trigger before he’d realized he was doing it, enraged by the idea that even now, he wasn’t being taken seriously. He was so sick of people playing with him. Shido hadn’t faced death for his crimes, but Shido didn’t have this kind of power. Despite what Akira would likely say, Maruki needed to be put down. A change of heart wasn’t good enough. And Akira had already killed a god. Goro certainly couldn’t fall behind.

But the world twisted, for just a brief moment, and Goro scowled as Maruki simply...wasn’t there anymore. There was no bullet hole in the wall, and despite his ears ringing from the clap of the gunshot, the barrel of the gun was as cold as if it hadn’t been fired at all.

Left alone for now, Goro sank to the floor, leaning back against the bed and looking over at Akira.

“Everything at stake… How the hell do you weigh someone like me on the same scale as the whole world…?” he muttered. “Sentimental moron.”

A flicker of blue caught his attention beneath the shelf, and as he watched, a translucent butterfly crawled slowly from beneath, as if it was limping. Goro hesitated, but it was a familiar blue, and he offered it a hand.

Once it was safely in his palm, he lifted it up to examine it more closely, and in his head he heard the voice of the little girl. Lavenza.

_Knight._

“Me?” he said out loud, feeling ridiculous talking to a butterfly.

_You. You are the Trickster’s counterpart, after all. Our connection to him is barely the slimmest of threads right now, but I can still reach you, now that you have made your way here._

Goro could swear that the butterfly looked happy despite not having a discernible face. “So are you going to help me?”

_As much as I can. The benevolent god may have full control over Mementos and reality, but there is always hope if you know where to look. You understand the whole picture now, do you not?_

“He can’t change me,” Goro said, tilting his head back against the bed and staring at the ceiling. “He can’t make me into what he wants. So I’m not his creation. I’ll be here when all of this is over.”

_That’s right._

Again, Goro looked back at the sleeping boy, lost in a dream within this nightmare. “So the choice is void. If I somehow figure out how to wake Akira before I end things… He won’t need to worry about me anymore.”

_Your chances of winning are almost none. But...that is not an unfamiliar situation for either of you._

Goro laughed. “Each of us has managed to do the impossible once before. Both of us against that lunatic? We might just be able to pull off a miracle.”

He was nothing if not determined, after all. He would make sure Maruki paid for his madness.

Whatever it took.

**Author's Note:**

> Am I projecting onto Goro just a bit?
> 
> Prolly.
> 
> I hit Maruki's rank 10 in NG+ last night, and then hammered this out while I was at work today. There's...a lot left unspecified about how the Sleeping Beauty ending and the "good" ending work, and a lot left unexplained about actualization in general, so I winged some of this. And yeah, I know you can't get this ending if you've made it to the 2/2 confrontation and learned about Goro, but just ignore that. X'D
> 
> I have...less sympathy than some people. I get Maruki, I really do, but he also makes me _so angry_ , now that I've sat down and played back through to the Casino again and had time to think. It's a lot of feelings, really, which is probably the hallmark of a good character. He's a great character! 
> 
> I just also want to punch him off a building with Satanael. ^_^;;;
> 
> Feel free to read this as platonic or romantic; whatever the details of their relationship, they're important to each other. That's all that really matters.
> 
> Edit: Pls go read Jade's fic about Goro dealing with the fake Akira. I'm YELLING.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Indecision](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26530885) by [JadeDraggy2017](https://archiveofourown.org/users/JadeDraggy2017/pseuds/JadeDraggy2017)




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